Printing-machine



(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 1. S. W. FRANCIS. WRITING MACHINE.

Patented 0011.27, 1857.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

s. w. FRANCIS. WRITING MACHINE.

No. 18,504. Patented 00x27, 1857.

' UNITED STATES SAMUEL w. Framers,

PATENT Orricn.

OF NEYV YORK, N.

PRlNTlNG-MAOHlNE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 18,5334, dated Ocfobi-r 27, 19.37.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known'thot'i, SAMUEL W. FRANCIS, of Blew York, county of New York, and State of NGW'TYOIIC, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing-lllachinesy and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,

reference being made to the annexed drawings,

The nrinci )al feature of ill im rovement,

consists in arranging a row of hammers in a circle, so that when piit "in motion they all will strike the same place;which is the center of said circle. The paper is moved along by means of a spring and a catch so connected with the 'keys that it shall move thepeper the distance of one letter whenever a key is struck. On the face of each hammer a letter is cut in relief in such a position that its impression on the paper will be parallel with those of the other. which carries the paper is drawn back by hand. By this operation the spring is wound up for the next line, and the paper is moved the distance of two lines in a direction perpendicular to the line written by means of a. catch hereinafter described. I The keys are connected with actions somewhat similar to those used in pianos by means of wires and bell-cranks, which actuate the hammers. There is also an arrangement for rendering the simultaneous action of two hammers impossible. It is obvious that by causing two or more hammers to strike against each other serious injury would derive therefrom, rendering ma chines where key-boards are used practically useless.

A A is a horizontal board, which, together with the sides 13 B and cross-bars G, D, and E, forms the frame of the machine, to which all parts of the mechanism are secured. The whole mechanism is inclosed in a casing, of which 13 13 forms the sides, E and G the front and back, It the bottom, K-tlic top, and I I and J J the movable cars.

The keys K L K L are disposed in a lon- Q, P Q, are pivoted by screws at R R It At the end ofeech line the car gitndinal series under the crossbar C. They all carry a counter-weight, M, which brings them by gravity to rest against the board A A. Their downward motion is checked by acrossbar, D. There are two pins, 2*? and (3, which act as guides for each key. Under and between the keys 2. row of vertical stop-bolted? 7 and are in contact with each other by shoulders. The tops are beveled on both sides, and are lodged in correspomiing recesses of and between the keys.

Q P Q, which enter them. By this arrangement it is impossible to bring down more then one key at the time, 'for, supposing n key being depressed, the stop-bolts I" Q, placed on the right side of the key, are en pushed simultaneously in the some direction. The same effect is produced on the left side of the key, where all bolts are pushed to the lefw. If, however, it is attempted to bring keys at once, all the stop-bolts between them, being equally pressed to the left and to the right, will keeptheir places directly under the spaces between the keys, whereby two keys which are acted upon are prevented from coming down more than one-sixteenth of an inch. The keys are connected with the actions by. means of wires U U U" S S S and bell-cranks T TT. These actions and the hammers VVere attached to a circular frame, XY, which is fastened 'to the central opening of the board A A. Each action is composed of a rocker, u, movable ,on a 'fulcrurn, cl a pawl, I), having its fulcrum on the upper end of'the rocker, and of a. spring, 0. When the key is in its normal position, the rocker (6 cc,- cupies the position drawn in black lines, (see Fig. 4,) and the rear end, d, of the pawl 11 being pressed against the frame by the spri 21g 0, the other end or cam of said pawl raised to such a position as to catch the hammer in the notch f, if the key is brought down, and to throw it up in the position represented in red lines. \Vhcn the rocker (a is brought to the latter position, the end it of the pawl b is brought down by its own weight, and thus clears the hammer when it springs back.

I found it advantageous to unite each hamnier,.by means of a rod, g, to a second haur, mer, it, which cqnilibratcs the first in its ve- Thesc recesses are made twice as large as the top of the stop-bolts P,

ing by the. prcssure'of the pins against it,

- byaproper system oflcverage with the frame L" and the side of the casing. The frame rious positions, much less power being required to move the two levers than to overcome'gravity of one of them.

The spring 0 is attached on one end to the hammer h, which, operating in connection. with another spring, 6, brings both hammers to their respective places after each stroke. To thecross-barE is attached a projecting arm, it, from which hangsastud, Z, againstathe end of which all the hammers are made to strike; The arm 70 and stud l are liable'to be turned outof sight by occupying the position beneath the cross-bar. They are secured in the several. positions by means of a screw and nut, m an n. The inking is effected by a silk band, 1 p, which is carried on four pulleys, q r s't,s ecured onto two sliding brackets, 11, v. These brackets are elevated by'pressing upon the first and last key of the key-board whenever the band is to be inked. it is again brought down to its proper position by pressing upon the sliding brackets 1 at z z. The paper is carried upon a car sliding between two rails, b The car consists of a quadrangular frame, (1 c f g,,supporting a roller, h, and the heavy vilat bar J to which the latter isunited, by means of levers k l and rodm, in such a manner that when the bar J is raised from the frame along a circle, the center of which is at n, the'roller i is equally raised by moving round the axesp' q.- The paper to be printed is first placed upon the roller h The roller 1" is then brought down upon-it, and the weight of the bar J causes the rollers to hold together. This lastmay also be attained by means of a spring. Two or three light springs are soldered to the bar J for the purpose of keeping the paper steady by pressing it against the frame of the car. The car is propelled by a spring-power, whichconsists of a spiral or any other form of spring, pulling steadily the car in a direction contrary to the lines to be printed. The spring is attached to'the car bymeans of a spring, 8', whichpasses over pulleys t and a. To the opposite end of the car is attached a cord, which, passing over a pulley, winds around" a barrel, b. The latter is firmly mounted upon a round disk, 0, which is furnished with a row of pins near the periphery thereof. d" is a catch, a detail view'of which is represented in Fig. 5. On the under side it has a notch, 11., through which the pins may pass in one direction only. This is effected by means of a spring, which covers the openthus establishing a bar against the passage of the pins, hence against the revolution of the disk in that direction. The catch is connected ears against a stud, k, by means of a spring, I; but when acted upon by either of the levers L it will also actuate the catch by" withdrawing the spring from the side pressure of the first letter of the next following line. moving of the paper the "pins. The spring thus released allows passage-of one pin, but looks against the next following one. These are the means Iemploy to feed the car, and consequently the aper, the distance ofone single letter, un il the whole line is completed. I then pull the knob g", so as to bring the stud Z to bear against the The in a direction perpendicular to the lines is effected by means of a spider-wheel, 7, made fast onto the shaft end of the roller t, and by means of a lever, s, and spring t. The object of the light spring t is to make the lever 8 turn till it rests against the frameby its projecting part a. When the car is pulled to the right, one of the spokes of the spider-wheel r is pressed against the'inclined sides of the lever s and turns the distance of two lines; but when the car goes back the spring t" plays and the position of the spider-wheel 1' remains unchanged.

The pulley u is free on the shaft of the bandpulley q, and carries a ratchet so arrangedin relation to a ratchet-wheel upon the shaft that when the car is moved to the right the pulley turns freely, and that when the car moves to the lcftthe pulley u carries the pulley qalong with it. y The band is thus caused to follow the movement of the car, and every letter is.struck in a different place. The band and the paper may be arranged in different ways. The band may be placed between the paper and the,

hammers. The most perfect impressions are thus produced, but it would be necessary to turn over the whole so as to enable the operator to one opaque, the other transparent. In such case the types are cut so as to be read; on the side of the paper which is opposite that of the impression. Two or more copies may thus be "obtained, and the printed matter is read through the transparent paper, which is placed on the top. For representing capitals I use a conventional sign over ordinary letters. This sign is engraved on a separate hammer, the key of which is shorter than the others, so that the paper. is movedwhen acted upon. This key must be struck before thatgof the letter which is to represent a capital! Having now fully described my improve ment, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Connecting with the type-hammer a secondary hammer orcountcr-we1ght,h,by means of a spring and rod, 0, substantially in the manner described, for the purpose of actuating with greater ease, and of maintaining the equilibrium of the type-hammer in its various positions.

2. The combination of spring-power mechanism with the paper-car when the former is made to propel said car in a direction con trary to the lines to be printed and when the car is guided in its course by rails, substantially as described.

The specific device herein described for he ding the paper flush with theinking-bami.

nead what he is printing. The band may also be placed between two kinds 06 paper,

consisting of the roller 12, connected to the heavy rule" J by a system of parallel-link frames, and holding the paper with gentle pressure upon and against the roller h, substantially as set forth. I

4. The combination, with the roller 1', the spider-wheel, when arrangedin relation to and operatirgin connection with the lever and spring, so as to feed the paper in a direction perpendicular to that of the printed 1ine.

5. The combination of the movable frame with catch, spikc wheei, and barrel, when constructed and arranged as-describeiwhere by the car is made to move by the action of keys during theintervals of printing, substantiali y as set forth.

6. The combination,-with a series of keys,

' of a series of stop-bolts, P Q I Q", constructed and arranged in the manner specified, whereby the simultaneous actionof two or more keys and consequently of two or more hammers, is

efi'ectually obviated,

S. W. FRANCIS.

Witnesses:

A. POLLAK, N. BEAUMONT. 

